The judicialization of protest and its outcomes: A typology of legal mobilization in post-transitional Chile (1990-2018)

Abstract

There is abundant literature on the outcomes of legal mobilization, although there is no agreement on its effective influence on decision-making. This article explains the outcomes of different uses of legal mobilization by exploring the organizational resources, political and legal opportunities held by a series of actors who mobilized the law during the period under study. Based on the observation of these variables, four uses of legal mobilization are identified: residual by environmental organizations; exclusive by private health insurance affiliates; predominant by the anti-day after pill movement; symbolic by sexual minorities. It is argued that legal mobilization effectively influenced decision-making only when used in a symbolic way.